Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Friday, December 4, 2009
13th Amendment- The Mystical Body of Business
The Mystical Body of Business: Why Corporations Have the Rights of Persons, - Dr. Eugene McCarraher
Its not widely known or understood that, in American law, the business corporation has the status of a person. Wal-Mart, Microsoft, IBM, Exxon every incorporated firm is
considered, from a legal standpoint, no differently from human beings with real flesh and blood. Its a very peculiar person, one that can own assets and yet also be owned
and therefore sold by shareholders; one whose only legal responsibility is to make profits for its owners. (Thats not just capitalist economics; its a statutory mandate.) Now of course this raises some interesting civil rights issues: if a corporation is a person, isnt owning and selling it a violation of the 13th Amendment? If employees are parts of the corporation, arent they owned and sold in exactly the same way? Is the corporation a massive civil rights issue
waiting to be identified and resolved? This class will trace the history of how corporations became people; examine some of the consequences of this peculiar metaphysical and legal transformation; and suggest alternatives to the current legal and political structure of corporate business. While the activities of corporations are often considered almost solely from the standpoint of social justice, they should also be identified as issues involving the most basic questions about persons and their rights. This may be one instance in which taking away or considerably modifying rights would further the cause of social justice.
Its not widely known or understood that, in American law, the business corporation has the status of a person. Wal-Mart, Microsoft, IBM, Exxon every incorporated firm is
considered, from a legal standpoint, no differently from human beings with real flesh and blood. Its a very peculiar person, one that can own assets and yet also be owned
and therefore sold by shareholders; one whose only legal responsibility is to make profits for its owners. (Thats not just capitalist economics; its a statutory mandate.) Now of course this raises some interesting civil rights issues: if a corporation is a person, isnt owning and selling it a violation of the 13th Amendment? If employees are parts of the corporation, arent they owned and sold in exactly the same way? Is the corporation a massive civil rights issue
waiting to be identified and resolved? This class will trace the history of how corporations became people; examine some of the consequences of this peculiar metaphysical and legal transformation; and suggest alternatives to the current legal and political structure of corporate business. While the activities of corporations are often considered almost solely from the standpoint of social justice, they should also be identified as issues involving the most basic questions about persons and their rights. This may be one instance in which taking away or considerably modifying rights would further the cause of social justice.
Monday, October 26, 2009
12th Amendment
The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate;--The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted;--The person having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President.--The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.
12th Amendment - Electoral College
The way the electoral college works is simple; which is not to say that it does so efficiently. Elections are held in each state, where people vote in the state they are registered in for the candidate of their choosing; who is on a list of those who are running for president. In these elections; with one being held in each and every state through out the US of A; the candidate who wins the state in question also gets all the electoral votes the state has. In all this it should be made clear that to get all the electoral votes the candidate need not do anymore then win the popular vote of the state in question. This meaning he or she need not have a 50% majority, as 35% of the vote might suffice or have a margin of victory over his closest rival of literally one vote, which on the lighter side of the argument might have come because he or she had one more son or daughter to vote for him or her. This system as history has already proven on two occasions does lend itself to the possibility that the person who wins the electoral college and by virtue of which becomes president to do so in spite of not necessarily winning the popular vote. This in a way making it that the will of the people was not really respected as the candidate most Americans voted for did not get to occupy the house on Pennsylvania avenue also known as the White House, not because enough people did not vote for him but because they did so in the wrong states.
11th Amendment
The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State.
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